General instructions

The procedure for the issuance of a license to tourist agencies - tour operators, for the issuance of a ceremonial representation of the license, for the registration, entry of new data, change and strike-off of registered data on tourist agencies, and the procedure of strike-off of a tourist agency from the Register in case its license is no longer valid, starts by filing the appropriate application with the Register of Tourism supported by the required documentation and proof of payment of the fee in favor of the Serbian Business Registers Agency (SBRA).

Relevant provisions of the law governing registration of -companies (Law on the procedure of registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency (RS Official Gazette No 99/2011) and the law governing administrative procedure (Law on general administrative procedure, FRY Official Gazette No 33/97 and 31/2011 and RS Official Gazette No. 30/10) apply, accordingly, to issues related to the procedure of issuing licenses, to actions upon incomplete and incomprehensible application for the issuance of licenses and the change of data registered in the Register of Tourism, which are not specifically regulated by the Law on Tourism.

Laws and by-laws

Relevant regulations applicable to the procedure of registration in the Register of Tourism are:

Law on Tourism (RS Official Gazette No 36/2009, 88/2010 and 99/2011 – as amended);

Rulebook on the content of the Register of Tourism and the documentation required for registration and recording (RS Official Gazette No 55/2012);

Rulebook on the type and terms of travel guarantees, manner of activation thereof and requirements that must be fulfilled by the tour operator depending on the type (RS Official Gazette No. 50/2012);

Rulebook on the content of the application for the issuance of a license and requirements for and manner of issuance of a ceremonial representation of the license to tour operators (RS Official Gazette No 55/2012);

Decision on the fees for registration and other services provided by SBRA (RS Official Gazette No 119/13).

Filing an application for registration

The registration procedure starts by submitting the application to the Agency (directly at the Agency’s head office in Belgrade, or at one of its organizational units or by mail) and it may also be initiated ex officio if such registration is envisaged by law or when it is in the public interest.

If the procedure is initiated by a party, the application should be submitted on the prescribed form or, if there is no prescribed form – in the form of a request containing the following data:

name of the register the application is submitted to,

subject-matter and type of registration,

applicant’s identification data,

manner in which the applicant requests that the Registrar’s decision be delivered to him, pursuant to the Law on the procedure of registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency.

The application should be supported by the required documents, either originals or certified transcripts or copies thereof, unless otherwise prescribed, along with proof of payment of the registration fee.

If a document is submitted in a foreign language, it should be accompanied by a translation by a certified court interpreter.

The application for registration may be submitted by:

the tourist agency’s authorized representative,

a proxy, carrying a power of attorney signed by the applicant’s authorized representative.

Review of the application by the Registrar

The Registrar is required to issue a decision on the application within five days from the receipt thereof. If the application is submitted by mail, the date and time of its receipt by the Agency will be considered as the submission date rather than the date of its delivery to the postal service provider.

If the registration requirements are met, the Registrar will issue a decision to grant the application, and post it in the Business entities data search section (check the Registrar’s decisions for the selected company). Registered data and documents will be published simultaneously with the issuance of the decision. The registration will produce legal effect towards third parties on the day following the publication thereof, which means, among other, that the deadlines foreseen by the Law on the procedure of registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency (for exercising the priority right, for filing an appeal, etc.) will be counted starting from the first day following the date of publication of the Registrar’s decisions.

The Registrar will issue a decision rejecting the application if it determines that the registration requirements referred to in Article 14, para. 1, items 1), 3) and 4), of the Law on the procedure of registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency are not met, i.e., that:

the Registrar is not authorized to act upon the application, or

the data or document is not subject to registration, or

the data or document requested for registration has already been registered,

The Registrar will issue such a decision in situations where the requested registration cannot be performed at all and therefore, by issuing such a decision, the procedure will be finally concluded without leaving the applicant the possibility of altering the outcome of the procedure by submitting supplemental documents.

The Registrar will issue a decision rejecting the application, stating which registration requirements have not been met if the other registration requirements referred to in Article 14, para. 1 of Law on the procedure of registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency, (RS Official Gazette No 99/11) are not met, i.e., when:

the application was not submitted by an authorized person,

the application lacks data and facts required for registration,

the application is not supported by required documents,

that the facts from the application are not consistent with the facts from the documents accompanying the application and the data already registered in the Register acting upon the application,

another legal entity or entrepreneur is already registered or when another application for registration has already been filed under the same name with the Register, or that the name has already been reserved pursuant to the law, or when the name has not been determined pursuant to the law,

the facts contained in the documents are not mathematically and logically harmonized with the regulations governing the contents and form thereof, in case of an application submitted to the Register competent for registration of financial statements,

no proof of payment of the registration fee has been attached to the application.

To retain order-related priority rights to have a decision issued on his application on account of its earlier submission, the applicant is required to submit the following documents within 30 days from the date of publication of the Registrar’s decision rejecting his previous application:

a new application for registration (please note that the complete application must be submitted again, and not parts of it, considering that it is a new application),

any missing and/or corrected documents, (as specified in the decision rejecting the previous application), and

the applicant is required to pay half the amount of the fee prescribed for the application in question, (the amount will always be specified in the explanatory part of the decision rejecting the previous application).

Thus, it can be inferred from the foregoing that, by opting for this possibility, envisaged by the Law on the procedure of registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency, the applicant also takes advantage of the special convenience to pay only one half of the amount of the prescribed fee. In addition he is not required to re-submit the documentation which was found to be flawless in the review phase of the prior application.

If the applicant decides to use the right of priority, he should indicate the number of his previously rejected application on page 1 of the new application. It is very important that the applicant claim his right of priority in this way, otherwise the Registrar will consider his application as a new application, in which case it will most probably be rejected once again (either because the entire fee has not been paid and/or because of missing documents).
Collection of Registrar’s decision

A written copy of the Registrar’s decision will only be delivered at the applicant’s express request, given the fact that all Registrar’s decisions are posted and available in section Business entities data search (for the selected company check the Registrar’s decisions), and that the deadlines foreseen by the Law on the procedure of registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency start to run as of the day following the date on which the Registrar’s decision was posted and not as of the date on which the decision was delivered to the applicant.

If the applicant opts for collecting the Registrar’s decision personally at the Agency’s head office in Belgrade, or at one of its organizational units, it may be collected by:

the tourist agency's authorized representative,

the applicant,

a person authorized to collect by the representative of the tourist agency or of the applicant, in which case, the authorized person must present a power of attorney when collecting, signed by the applicant’s authorized representative, unless the power of attorney was previously submitted together with the application.

Appealing the Registrar’s decision

The applicant may appeal the Registrar’s decision.

The appeal must contain the number and date of the appealed decision, reasons for appeal, the complainant’s identification information and signature.

The appeal should be submitted to the line minister for tourism, through the SBRA, within 30 days from the date of publication of the decision.

If the applicant appeals a Registrar’s decision rejecting his application because certain conditions were not met, and at the same time takes action to ensure compliance, these actions will not be taken into consideration when deciding on his appeal, and the appeal procedure will continue to run its course. This means that the complainant may not supply the missing or corrected documents in support of his appeal, i.e. these will not be taken into consideration if they are submitted with the appeal.

If the Registrar establishes that the appeal is late, inadmissible or filed by an unauthorized person, he will issue a decision rejecting that appeal.

If the appeal is justified, the Registrar will change or revoke the contested decision and issue a new decision approving the application.

If the appeal is neither granted nor dismissed within five days, the Registrar is required to forward the appeal to the line minister without delay.

The minister is required to decide on the appeal within 30 days from the date of receipt of the appeal by the ministry.

Correction of errors

In case of any typos, calculation or other evident errors in the registration process, the Registrar is required to correct these, and issue a conclusion with regard, within five days from the date when such errors were noted or from the date of submission of the request for corrections.

If in the process of deciding on a request for rectification the registrar establishes that no error was committed, the request will be dismissed as unfounded.

Registration of a tourist agency

A tourist agency can be:

a domestic legal entity,

an entrepreneur,

a branch of a foreign legal entity,

under conditions for engaging in the activity of tourist agencies stipulated by law, for profit making purposes.

The license will be issued only to the tourist agencies that intend to organize and carry out tours in the country and abroad, including educational tours for pupils and students traveling abroad to learn foreign languages or to develop professionally, with the possibility of engaging in temporary and part-time jobs, In other words, to entities carrying on the activity of a tourist agency – tour operator.

Fulfillment of the statutory requirements for engaging in the tourism business activity stipulated by law will be determined in the procedure of issuing a tour operator license.

Upon the application of the tourist agency, the license will be issued by decision of the Tourism Registrar, with a period of validity of three years. The data on the tourist agency will be registered in the Register simultaneously with the issuance of the decision, and will be published on the same day in the section Business entities data search (check the Registrar’s decisions for the selected company). The license may be renewed under the terms and conditions on which it was issued, provided that the application for the renewal of the license is submitted no later than five days before the expiry date of the license. At the request of the tourist agency, the Tourism

Registrar will issue a ceremonial representation of the license.

The application for the issuance of license must contain the following data:

registration number of the licensed entity,

signature of and data on the person authorized to file the application,

data on the manager (name and surname, JMBG – unique personal identification number) or passport number, if the manager is a foreign national, professional qualifications),

data on travel guarantees in case of insolvency and for compensation for damages,

data on general travel terms and conditions.

The following documents must be submitted for the issuance of license to the tourist agency – tour operator:

properly filled licensing application form (Forms),

extract from the Register competent for the registration of the legal entity if it is not registered in any of the registers operated by the SBRA,

employment contract or other proof that the entity has at least one employee:

- who knows the Serbian language, uses one foreign language and has minimum two-year post-secondary education degree in the field of tourism, economy or other social science, which can be corroborated by a certified copy or a certified transcript of the diploma or certificate issued by the educational institution where the person attained the post-secondary education degree;
- who has minimum three years of experience in tourism, which can be corroborated by a certified copy or a certified transcript of the employment record, or in some other reliable way;
Please note: If this person has not acquired the necessary professional degree or work experience in the Republic of Serbia, he/she should submit other appropriate documentation to prove compliance with requirements foreseen herein.

Certificate issued by the competent commercial court that the entity has not gone into bankruptcy;

Certificate issued by the competent Register that the entity has not gone into liquidation;

Please note: the certificate issued by the competent Register that the subject is not in liquidation procedure shall be submitted by the subject not registered in a register operated by the SBRA.

Certificate issued by the competent court or other state authority that no injunctions barring business activity have been ordered against the entity;

Certificate issued by the competent court or other state authority that no injunctions on practicing an activity, a profession or duty have been ordered against the responsible person;

Valid travel guarantees in case of insolvency and for the purpose of compensation for damages;

General travel terms and conditions in both printed and electronic format (pdf format) ;

Proof of payment of the fee for the issuance of license (Fees ).

Application for the issuance of a ceremonial representation of the license

At the request of the tourist agency, accompanied by proof of payment of the fee for the issuance of the ceremonial representation of the license (Fees), the Tourism Registrar will issue a ceremonial representation of the license.

Please note:

The ceremonial representation of the license will be issued only to a tourist agency that has already received a license in the form of a decision or to a tourist agency filing the application for the issuance of the ceremonial representation of the license simultaneously with the application for the issuance of a license in the form of a decision.

Change of data on a tourist agency

The following documents should be submitted in support of a change, entry of new and/or strike-off of registered data from the Register:

properly filled application for registration of change of data on tourist agency (Forms)

document proving the occurrence of the change and compliance with the requirements for registration of the requested change

proof of payment of the fee for the registration of a change of data (Fees).

Strike-off of the tourist agency from the Register

Upon expiry of the term of validity of the license, the Tourism Registrar will strike a tourist agency off from the Register of Tourism without the need to issue any special act.

A license will cease to be valid:

with the expiry of its term of validity,

at the request of the license holder,

with the revocation of license,

with the termination of the company, entrepreneur or other legal entity or the branch of a foreign legal entity causing the legal entity or entrepreneur to be deleted from the appropriate Register.

The strike-off of a tourist agency from the Register of Tourism in case the license holder has applied for termination of the license will be effected by way of:

filing the application form with the SBRA in the form of a submission,

attaching the proof of payment of the fee for the strike-off of data (Fees).